Martin Logan Unison with ARC

mpitogo

I'm pretty excited to try this out. Analog will be used primarily from the pre-amp on my phono and through to line-level inputs on my integrated Amp. The digital-in will be from my CD player and will use the digital-out for both CD and Airplay and Play-Fi. The plus side is that it includes Anthem Room Correction. I was initially thinking about miniDSP2x4HD to do it but if I can do it in one device why not.

Thoughts?


http://www.techhive.com/article/3198488/streaming-hardware/martinlogan-unison-review-dts-play-fi-and-airplay-preamp-streams-anything.html

mpitogo

I finally received my Unison. I have it connected via Digital output into Digital 1 on a McIntosh MA 5200 powering Polk Audio LSiM 707 speakers. On the Unison I have the analog input connected to a Sony PS-HX500 using the built in Phono Preamp and the Digital input connected to a Sony DVP-S500D.

I don't have a Windows PC so I couldn't use the included USB reference Mic for Anthem Room Correction. Thankfully Anthem does have an ARC iOS app. I used my iPhone 6s built in mic for calibration. The result of correction gives me a bit of mixed feelings. The mid bass has been nulled out and sounds hollow. I'll really need to do more listening. With the included app it's pretty easy to enable/disable ARC.

I have the Unison using only the digital output and have it setup to auto select input. Analog or Digital or wireless streaming AirPlay or DTS PlayFi. Overall this feature works well. The analog input on the unison is a bit noisy vs the analog input on the MA with a pretty low noise floor when the needle is idle.

More impressions to follow.

Upstatemax

The cut back in mid bass might simply be a flattening of the frequency response.

A lot of speakers have a bump in the mid bass to make them sound like they produce more bass than they actually do.

The ARC might have corrected it.

mpitogo

Cross post from another site...

I borrowed a Windows 10 PC and ran the calibration. I can't say there is a perceptible difference between the mobile and the reference Mic. Both AR Correction profiles sound similar. But since I can adjust the target correction mainly around low end cutoff, I had more bass management options. Originally it had the crossover set at 33Hz 5th order, I adjusted it to 24Hz.

There is a weird DSP muffling I think happening. When bass is playing the mid and high frequency sounds like there're is a pillow stuffed in front of the speakers but when the bass stops for relief and voices continue the pillow effect is removed. I need to continue with a few more hours of listening sessions.

mpitogo

Good examples

Jon Pardi - Dirt on my boots
Adele - Hello

Once the bass plays the vocals sound muffled but then clear up when when the bass stops.

Also I am familiar with room correction I use two systems calibrated with Audyssey and as a reference it doesn't sound muffled.


I have an Onkyo NR-TX705 using Audyssey with an all Polk 5.1, RT-55 L/R, CS400 C, T15 SL/SR and PSW450 as well as a Marantz SR-7009 using Audyssey MultEQ xt32 also a mostly Polk 7.2.2 Atmos, LSi25 L/R, Martin Logan Motion 50XT C, FX500 SL/SR, T15 SB L/R, T15 TH L/R and DSWmicro PRO front/rear sub.

For comparison I played the same song on the Marantz with Audyssey set to Reference (calibrated) in Stereo to Polk Audio LSi25 Marantz LR power amp connected to the speakers and pre-out LR connected to the LSi25 builtin plate amp ( no dsw subs) the vocals where just as clear with and without the bass line playing Dirt on my boots.

Audyssey
iPad Amazon Music <-Airplay->AppleTV<-HDMI->Marantz SR7009->Polk LSi 25

Anthem Room Correction
iPad Amazon Music <-Airplay->Unison<-Toslink->McIntosh MA-5200 Polk LSiM 707